I used DOING GRAMMAR for a number of years too.  My students liked it, and as I mentioned on a similar thread a number years ago, it works well; the content sticks with students, perhaps because of the extensive and carefully designed practice material.  Among the phrase structure tree grammar texts, Morenberg's trees are the only ones I know of that combine explicit functional information with constituent structure labelling, a feature I found to be one of the books greatest strengths.  A linguist who is more of a purist about syntactic structures and their trees will be unhappy with many features of Morenberg's trees, but their design is explicitly pedagogical, not theoretical, and that justifies a fair amount of deviation from the rigor of theoretical syntax.  Teaching form and function effectively is always difficult, and Max's approach works better than any other I have come across.  I finally gave it up when I switched to The Oxford English Grammar, for reasons that I detailed last week. 

Herb


Subject: Re: Favorite Textbooks
 
My favorite textbook is DOING GRAMMAR, by Max Morenberg.  I've been
using it in my 300-level Structure of English class since shortly after
the first edition was published in 1991.  DOING GRAMMAR is currently in
its third edition (2002).  It was from the Preface to Morenberg's third
edition that I discovered there was an organization called the Assembly
for the Teaching of English Grammar.
 
Dwayne Strasheim
Hastings College

	-----Original Message-----
	From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cornelia Paraskevas
	Sent: Sunday, May 28, 2006 11:09 PM
	To: [log in to unmask]
	Subject: Re: Favorite Textbooks
	
	
	    I haven't followed the discussion for a few days but I
wanted to add to the list of "favorite textbooks" a brand new grammar
book--Craig Hancock's Meaning-Centered Grammar. I have used it for two
quarters now and students absolutely love the tone of voice and the
clarity of definitions.   They especially appreciate the reassurance
given that "they know their language" --which alleviates their grammar
anxiety.
	
	It is a great introduction to grammar from a variety of
perspectives, covering basic concepts in grammar that are important to
writing.  One particularly useful feature of the book is the use of
authentic language (real language texts) for examples and exercises.
The last two chapters of the book (grammar and writing /grammar and
meaning in longer texts) show how understanding about language helps
writers fine-tune their meaning.
	
	It's been one of the most successful grammar books I've used
since I started teaching grammar to prospective teachers--I highly
recommend it.
	
	Cornelia Paraskevas
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